Alicia Cook is a multi-award-winning writer and poet based in Newark, New Jersey. Her writing often focuses on addiction, mental health, and grief – sometimes all at once. She is the curly-haired human behind the poetry books Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately, I Hope My Voice Doesn't Skip, Sorry I Haven't Texted You Back, and The Music Was Just Getting Good. Her work has been adapted into music and dance, and has been published in a number of anthologies, as well as in The New York Times, The Asbury Park Press, and Writer’s Digest. Her most recent poetry award is the 2026 Central Avenue Poetry Prize for her poem "The Squirrel Made His Way."